Learning to say goodbye
by A Hopeless Romantic
Summary: After the Oracion Seis mission, Erza is depressed. Mira questions her which leads to a talk between Gray and Erza about learning to cope with loss and saying goodbyes.


I wrote this after chapter 162-163 of Fairy Tail. If that chapter crushed the hearts of any Gray/Erza fans, then I hope this offers some closure. It can be considered a heartbreaking goodbye from Gray to Erza. Watch for the symbolism.

Disclosure: The author own nothing related to Fairy Tail.

"You've been quiet all day, now."

Erza turned around to see Mirajane watching her from across the bar. There was a sad smile on her face, as if she knew that Erza was in pain and suffering alone.

"Actually," she continued, "you've been quiet since you and the others got back from the Oracion Seis mission. Is there something that you're not telling me about? Did something happen?"

Erza turned her head down not sure if she should tell Mirajane about the whole incident with Gerard. It was a personal story but she couldn't let it fester inside of her. So she looked up and steeled her resolve and told Mirajane everything. They talked about Erza's past, about her friends and her relationship with Gerard. They spent hours speaking about the Oracion Seis and the Tower of Paradise missions. Erza described all her feelings and emotions that had overwhelmed her during the fight with Gerard and the Rune Knights.

"What about Natsu, Lucy and Gray?" Mirajane had asked after the long explanation.

"What about them?"

"What did they do doing while you were fighting with Jerry or whatever his name is?"

Erza smirked at this. Mira always had a way to make you smile somehow. "Actually, I don't know. I know that Natsu fought with that snake guy, Lucy fought with that girl called Angel and I'm pretty sure Gray took out Racer. But I have no idea what happened during our time in the Tower of Paradise."

"Well, I might know someone who does." Mira said smiling as she reached under the counter. She pulled out a cooked fish and started waving it around. In about two seconds a blue blur shot past Erza and landed infront of Mirajane.

"Fish!" Happy cried out.

Mira winked at Erza knowingly and turned to Happy. "Happy would you like this fish?"

"Aye" Happy replied with his hands held out in front of him.

"Okay, you can have it on one condition; you have to tell us what happened to Natsu, Lucy and Gray in the Tower of Paradise."

Happy grabbed the fish and started speaking "Happy remembers the cat lady fighting with Natsu and then the owl with the rocket."

Both Erza and Mirajane looked completely confused at this, but before they could ask Happy to explain, he continued on.

"The owlman ate Natsu like he was a fish," Happy said between bites, "and then he started to breathe fire like Natsu." He took a moment to swallow a big bite before continuing, "Then Gray came and got all mad at Natsu. He was shouting about finding Erza and not letting her become a 'sac-ara-fish'!"

"I think you mean 'sacrifice', Happy"

"Yeah, and when he heard that Natsu was eaten, he attacked the owl, but the owl used 'Fire Dragon Roar', and burnt Gray to toast." Happy licked his lips, "Mmm, can I have some toast, Mira?"

Mirajane looked like she was in shock, but Erza just waved it off. "I'm sure he was fine, Gray is used to Natsu's attacks."

Mirajane shook her head. "Natsu and Gray only fight with their fists or use their magic playfully. They've never been in a serious fight!"

Erza stopped at this. Mira was right; Natsu and Gray had never used their magic violently against each other, and coupled with the fact that he was an ice mage with a disadvantage to heat… "Oh god, he must have been is so much pain."

Happy just sat there trying to get fish bits out of his teeth."But Gray was really powerful; he beat up owlface really quickly. He might have been more powerful then Natsu." Realizing what he had said, Happy quickly looked around before he whispered to the girls, "Don't tell Natsu I said so."

He then turned to Mira and asked her, "Where's my fish?"

Mirajane just slapped him on the head and told him he already ate it. Erza was still in shock over the fact that her friend had gone through so much just to help her, that she didn't realize that Happy was up and about to walk away.

Happy stopped short and turned to them once more. "Oh yeah," he said, "Gray was also shouting some thing during the fight. He said, 'I'm taking Erza back with me. Erza has to be with us, with Fairy Tail so she doesn't have to cry.'" He then turned around and walked away as the two female mages stood in silence.

"You still haven' told me why you are so quiet."

Erza blinked and turned around. She had forgotten what their previous conversation was about. Now that Happy was gone she had just been thinking. She sighed.

"It's just, now that the Rune knights have taken Gerard to prison, I won't see him again. I had only just gotten over his death at the Tower of Paradise, and now he's alive and taken away." She looked at her closest friend and asked, "How do I deal with that?"

Mira looked thoughtful for a moment and then spoke. "You know, there's someone else who has been through that. Someone who has lost a friend thought dead, but was really alive, but can no longer talk with them."

"Who?" Erza wondered.

"Gray. His teacher, Ur was trapped in an ice magic spell; not dead but not really alive. If anyone might know how to deal with your problem, it would be Gray." She pointed over to another table where Gray was seated drinking with a few friends. Erza stilled at the sight of them. She then looked at Mira, who was giving her an encouraging look and decided to go and speak with him.

Gray was sitting in-between Cana and Elfman, trying to enjoy a drink. Elfman kept telling them about his latest mission protecting an 'unmanly man', while Cana was laughing and guzzling down all alcohol on the table. Gray's mind however was on different things. He kept thinking back to the Oracion Seis mission and the look on Erza's face as Gerard was being dragged away. He didn't even notice as the woman who was on his mind walked up to their table.

"Elfman, stop banging on the table. You're making too much noise. And Cana, it's unlady-like to gulp down your drink. Stop burping." Cana and Elfman stilled and seemed to shrink two sizes. Gray watched as Erza turned to him with a frown on her face. He braced himself for a tongue-lashing.

"Hello Gray. May I join you?" she asked almost quietly.

Gray's eyes shot up and even Cana and Elfman gaped. It was unusual to see Erza calm when she had just been shouting. As he nodded his head, Gray watched as Cana and Elfman slowly stood up and excused themselves from the table. Gray watched them walk away and yelled out, "Later Elfman. See ya Cana."

He turned around to see Erza looking at him curiously. "What." He asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Why do you always say 'See ya' and 'Later', but you never say 'Bye'?" she questioned him after a moment of silence.

Gray sat stunned for a moment before processing the question. He supposed it was an honest question and could see why it might seem weird to someone else.

" I … I just don't like saying 'Goodbye', its too… final." He said, answering her finally. "I know that I will see Cana and Elfman later so there is no need to be so final."

"But what about Leon? When we left, you weren't sure that you would see him again, but you still didn't say 'Goodbye'." Erza questioned him yet again trying to get to the root of his thinking.

"I suppose its more about losing someone then never seeing them again. When I know that I will never see them the same way again." He paused and Erza realized that there was a sad light in his eyes. "The last person I said 'goodbye' to was Ur. Even though she was still alive I knew that I would never speak to her, never tell her how sorry I am for causing her death." The smallest of tears fell on to the table but Erza was too caught up in her companion's heartfelt words to pay any notice.

After a while she risked speaking. "Actually the real reason I wanted to talk to you was because of Ur. I wanted to know how you deal with the loss of someone you care about. Hoe do you continue on knowing that the person is still alive somehow but you can never be with them, talk with then, help them."

Gray's smile dropped off his face and his eyes steeled themselves for a moment before he turned to Erza. But seeing her sitting there with misty eyes and a small pout on her lips, he stopped and his eyes softened. "This is about Gerard isn't it?"

Erza nodded slowly. Gray sighed and took a breath. "You have hope. You have hope that things might still work out even though it might seem impossible. And you trust in your nakama to help you through the hard moments." He glanced at Erza and saw that his words had brightened her up a bit. "Listen Erza, you know that I… that this guild loves you right? We are your family and it may not seem like it, even though we might not like it, we will stand by your side on whatever you decide with Gerard, all the way until the end." He stared straight into her eyes, her very soul as he spoke his next words. "We don't want to see you cry."

Erza had to remind herself to breathe after hearing Gray speak so sincerely. She smiled brightly at him, her first real smile since they got back from the Oracion Seis mission. She leant forword and gave Gray a soft kiss on his cheek. Pulling back to see a blushing ice-mage, she smiled at him and said, "Thank you Gray, I needed to hear that from a friend. I'm going to continue hoping that I will see Gerard again and can tell him my feelings."

Grey's blush turned pale and the light in his eyes dimmed a little, but Erza already had her back turned and was heading out the door. As she left she turned around and waved telling to him, "Later Gray."

Gray watched Erza walk out the door before he whispered back, "Goodbye Erza."

And that's it. Review if you liked it and let me know if you're a fan. Remember, this is a one-shot and is not related to any other Fairy Tail fanfics that I may or may-not write. I'm trying to get some more FT fics written but I have no idea how long it will be.


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